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Lance Archer
|weight= |birth_date= |death_date= |birth_place=Gause, Texas, USA |resides=Austin, Texas, USA |spouse= |billed=Dallas, Texas Austin, Texas |trainer=Solo Fiatala |debut=July 2000 |retired= |caption = Archer in July 2019}}Lance Hoyt (born February 28, 1977) is an American professional wrestler, currently working for New Japan Pro Wrestling as Lance Archer. He is also known for his work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he wrestled as Dallas and under his real name. He is a four-time NWA World Tag Team Champion while the title was and twice with David Boy Smith Jr.). He also worked in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring name Vance Archer '''and he wrestled in All Japan Pro Wrestling under his real name '''Lance Hoyt '''in the Voodoo Murders.' Professional wrestling career Early Career (2000–2009) In 2000, Hoyt began training as a wrestler under Solo Fiatala, and debuted in July 2000, facing Tarzan Taylor in his first match. He spent the next four years working on the Texas independent circuit, using the ring names Lance Steel and Breakdown, the latter being a character created in the spur-of-the-moment by Hoyt in Corpus Christi when he had forgotten his usual ring attire and was forced to wrestle in his street clothing. Hoyt's most notable tenure within the Texas independent circuit was in Professional Championship Wrestling (PCW), where he debuted in 2000 as Shadow, a dark heel character. Throughout his time in PCW, he faced notable opponents including Paul London and Ahmed Johnson and early in his tenure, he created a stable called "The Dark Circle". All Japan Pro Wrestling (2009) After he left TNA he Joined All Japan Pro Wrestling under his real name in the Voodoo Murders he was brougth by TARU. But he wrestled 5 matches for the company but he left the company in April 2009 to sign with WWE. New Japan Pro Wrestling (2011–2015) On May 15, 2011, Hoyt made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling, during the promotion's first-ever tour of the United States, attacking Satoshi Kojima after a match. The following day it was announced that Hoyt, under the ring name Lance Archer, had joined Minoru Suzuki's Suzuki-gun, who had recently begun feuding with Kojima. Archer made his in-ring debut on June 18 at Dominion 6.18 in Osaka, teaming with Suzuki in a tag team match, where they defeated Kojima and Togi Makabe. Three days later, the Suzuki-gun team of Archer, Taichi and Taka Michinoku was eliminated from the J Sports Crown Openweight 6 Man Tag Tournament in the first round by Kojima, Makabe and Tomoaki Honma. In August, Archer took part in the 2011 G1 Climax, where he would manage to win four out of his nine matches, including defeating former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Togi Makabe in his opening match, finishing eighth out of the ten wrestlers in his block. Archer had his to date highest profile match in New Japan on September 19, when he was defeated by Togi Makabe. In the 2011 G1 Tag League, Archer teamed with Minoru Suzuki and, after four wins and one loss, the team finished second in their block, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. On November 6, Archer and Suzuki first defeated the CHAOS Top Team (Shinsuke Nakamura and Toru Yano) in the semifinals and then IWGP Tag Team Champions Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) in the finals to win the 2011 G1 Tag League. On November 12 at Power Struggle, Archer and Suzuki failed in their attempt to capture the IWGP Tag Team Championship from Bad Intentions. On February 12, 2012, at The New Beginning, Archer, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, Taka Michinoku and Yoshihiro Takayama of the Suzuki-gun took a dominant 5–1 win over KUSHIDA, Tiger Mask, Togi Makabe, Wataru Inoue and Yuji Nagata in a ten man elimination tag team match, with Archer scoring eliminations over Kushida, Tiger Mask and Inoue. Afterwards, Archer and Takayama challenged Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) to a match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship. On March 18, Archer and Takayama were unsuccessful in their title challenge. On July 22 at Kizuna Road, Archer, Suzuki, Michinoku and Taichi defeated Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi, Togi Makabe and Yuji Nagata in an eight man elimination tag team match, with Archer scoring three of his team's four eliminations. Following the match, Archer had a staredown with Makabe, building up to their upcoming match in the 2012 G1 Climax tournament. The match took place on August 1, the first day of the tournament, and saw Archer pick up the win over the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion for the second year in a row. After four wins and three losses, Archer headed to the final day of the tournament on August 12 tied at the top of his block, however, a loss to MVP in his final match caused him to get eliminated from the finals. In the aftermath of Suzuki-gun's July 22 win, Archer had also made a challenge for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, held by Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima, but did not specify who his partner for the match would be. On August 13, Harry Smith, later renamed Davey Boy Smith, Jr., was revealed as Archer's partner and the newest member of Suzuki-gun. On October 8 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Archer and Smith, now known as the K.E.S. (Killer Elite Squad), defeated Kojima and Tenzan to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship. K.E.S. made their first successful title defense on November 11 at Power Struggle, defeating Tenzan and Kojima in a rematch. From November 20 to December 1, K.E.S. took part in the round-robin portion of the 2012 World Tag League, finishing with a record of four wins and two losses, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament in the second place in their group. On December 2, K.E.S. defeated Always Hypers (Togi Makabe and Wataru Inoue) to advance to the finals of the tournament, Archer's second in a row. Later that same day, K.E.S. was defeated in the finals of the 2012 World Tag League by Sword & Guns (Hirooki Goto and Karl Anderson). On January 4, 2013, at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, K.E.S. defeated Sword & Guns in a rematch to retain the IWGP Tag Team Championship. On February 10 at The New Beginning, Archer and Smith defeated Tenzan and Kojima for their third successful defense of the IWGP Tag Team Championship. On March 3 at New Japan's 41st anniversary event, Archer unsuccessfully challenged Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On April 5, Archer and Smith made their fourth successful defense of the IWGP Tag Team Championship against Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii. On April 20, Archer and Smith defeated Ryan Genesis and Scot Summers in Houston, Texas to not only retain the IWGP Tag Team Championship, but to also win the NWA World Tag Team Championship. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2013, K.E.S. lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship back to Tencozy in a four-way match, which also included Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano, and Manabu Nakanishi and Strong Man, though neither Archer nor Smith was involved in the finish. K.E.S. received a rematch for the title on June 22 at Dominion 6.22 in a three-way match, which also included Iizuka and Yano, but were unable to regain the title, when Kojima pinned Archer for the win. On August 1, Archer entered the 2013 G1 Climax. The tournament concluded on August 11 with a match, where Archer defeated his tag team partner Davey Boy Smith, Jr., costing Smith a spot in the finals and giving Archer a record of four wins and five losses. On November 9 at Power Struggle, K.E.S. faced Tencozy and The IronGodz (Jax Dane and Rob Conway) in a two-fall three-way match. In the first fall, they lost the NWA World Tag Team Championship to The IronGodz, but came back in the second to defeat Tencozy for the IWGP Tag Team Championship. From November 24 to December 8, K.E.S. took part in the 2013 World Tag League. After winning their round-robin block with a record of five wins and one loss, they were eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by their old rivals, Tencozy. On January 4, 2014, at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, K.E.S. lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to the winners of the tournament, Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson). K.E.S. received a rematch for the title on February 9 at The New Beginning in Hiroshima, but were again defeated by Bullet Club. On May 25 at Back to the Yokohama Arena, K.E.S. failed to regain the NWA World Tag Team Championship from Tencozy in a three-way match, which also included Rob Conway and Wes Brisco. On June 21 at Dominion 6.21, K.E.S. received another shot at the NWA World Tag Team Championship, this time in a regular tag team match, but were again defeated by Tencozy. From July 23 to August 8, Archer took part in the 2014 G1 Climax, where he finished tied sixth in his block with a record of four wins and six losses. On October 13 at King of Pro-Wrestling, K.E.S. defeated Tencozy to regain the NWA World Tag Team Championship. From November 22 to December 5, K.E.S. took part in the 2014 World Tag League. The team finished their block with a record of four wins and three losses, narrowly missing the finals of the tournament. Pro Wrestling NOAH (2015–2016) On January 10, 2015, K.E.S., along with the rest of Suzuki-gun, took part in a major storyline, where the stable invaded a Pro Wrestling NOAH show. During the attack, K.E.S. beat down GHC Tag Team Champions TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste). This led to a match on February 11, where K.E.S. defeated TMDK to become the new GHC Tag Team Champions. In May, K.E.S. made it to the finals of the 2015 Global Tag League, where they were defeated by Masato Tanaka and Takashi Sugiura. After ten successful title defenses, K.E.S. lost the GHC Tag Team Championship to Naomichi Marufuji and Toru Yano on May 28, 2016. K.E.S. regained the title from Marufuji and Yano on November 23. They lost the title to Go Shiozaki and Maybach Taniguchi on December 3. Two days later, it was announced that Suzuki-gun was gone from Noah, concluding the invasion storyline. Global Force Wrestling (2015) On May 6, 2015, Global Force Wrestling (GFW) announced Hoyt as part of their roster. He made his debut for the promotion on August 14, losing to Nick Aldis , then on August 21, K.E.S lost to Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) in the quarter-finals of the GFW tag team titles tournament. Afterwards Hoyt left GFW to return to NOAH. Return to NJPW (2017–present) The entire Suzuki-gun returned to NJPW on January 5, 2017, attacking the CHAOS stable with K.E.S. targeting IWGP Tag Team Champions Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano. On February 5 at The New Beginning in Sapporo, K.E.S. unsuccessfully challenged Ishii and Yano for the IWGP Tag Team Championship in a three-way match, also involving Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma. Following the event, Archer was sidelined with a herniated disc in his lower back, which would require surgery and sideline him for a significant amount of time. Archer returned from his injury on August 13, when he and Smith attacked IWGP Tag Team Champions War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe) and Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa). On September 24 at Destruction in Kobe, K.E.S. defeated War Machine and Guerrillas of Destiny in a three-way tornado tag team match to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship for the third time. At the end of the year, K.E.S. took part in the 2017 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of five wins and two losses, failing to advance to the finals due to losing to block winners Guerrillas of Destiny in their head-to-head match. On January 4, 2018, at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome, K.E.S. lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to ''Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL and SANADA). From November 17 until December 7, K.E.S. took part of the 2018 World Tag League, finishing the tournament with a record of nine wins and four losses, failling to advancing to the finals, due to losing to EVIL and SANADA in their last round robin match. On June 15, Smith left NJPW, thus disbanding K.E.S. On June 16 at Kizuna Road 2019, Archer would make his return to the promotion after six months. Afterwards, Archer began working as a singles wrestler. From July 6 until August 10, Archer took part in the 2019 G1 Climax, where he finished the tournament with a record of three wins and six losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament. On October 14 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Archer defeated Juice Robinson in a no disqualification match to win the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. After the match, Archer attacked Robinson until David Finlay saved him. On November 9 at New Japan Showdown in San Jose, Archer defeated Finlay to make his first successful title defense. On December 8, Jon Moxley returned to NJPW confronting Archer, before laying him out and his Suzuki-gun stablemate Minoru Suzuki with the Death Rider. Afterwards, Moxley challenged Archer to a Texas Deathmatch at Wrestle Kingdom 14. From November 16 until December 8, Archer and Suzuki took part in the 2019 World Tag League, failing to win the tournament with a record of nine wins and six losses. On January 4, 2020 in the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome, Archer lost the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship to Jon Moxley in a Texas Deathmatch. Personal life In high school, Hoyt played basketball, football, and baseball. He attended Texas State University, where he played college football as a quarterback. He has a degree in English. While in college he worked at a nightclub, where an acquaintance introduced him to Solo Fiatala, who trained him to be a professional wrestler. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **''Blackout'' (Inverted crucifix powerbomb) **''Final Days'' / Dark Days (Snap inverted DDT, sometimes preceded by a scoop lift) **''Texas Tornado'' (Fireman's carry facebuster) **''EBD Claw (Iron Claw Hold) *'Signature moves''' **Big boot **Chokeslam **''The Derailer (Running Low-Angle Shoulder Block to a oncoming opponent) **Fallaway slam **''F'n Slam (Sitout full nelson slam) – 2012–present **Moonsault **Multiple powerslam variations ***Scoop ***Sidewalk **Overhead belly to belly suplex **Pumphandle slam **Sitout powerbomb **Spinebuster *'With Davey Boy Smith Jr.' **'Double team finishing moves' ***''Killer Bomb'' (F'n Slam (Archer) / Sitout powerbomb (Smith) combination) *'Nicknames' **"The American Psycho" **'"The Murder Hawk Monster"' *'Entrance themes' **"He is the American Psycho" by Yonosuke Kitamura (NJPW) **"Killer Bomb" by Yonosuke Kitamura (NJPW; used while teaming with Davey Boy Smith Jr.) **'"Everybody Dies" '''by Taylor Sheasgreen (of The Motorleague) (Used in NJPW in singles action or while teaming with Davey Boy Smith Jr.) Championships and accomplishments *'National Wrestling Alliance''' **NWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Davey Boy Smith Jr. *'New Japan Pro Wrestling' **IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **IWGP Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Davey Boy Smith Jr. **G1 Tag League (2011) – with Minoru Suzuki *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' **PWI ranked him #'92' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2015 **PWI ranked him #'100' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016 *'Pro Wrestling NOAH' **GHC Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Davey Boy Smith Jr. References Category:Wrestlers Category:Gaijin Category:AJPW Roster Category:Pro Wrestling Noah Roster Category:Voodoo Murders Category:Suzuki-gun